“47 years after Stonewall, it is still an act of courage for some people to be honest about who they are and who they love.”

“If you are fortunate enough to be able to talk about the people you date and the person with whom you’ve chosen to share your life, and about your gender identity, in every setting, without any thought that you could lose your family, children, friends, job, home, or even your life, be grateful to whatever transcendent truth you recognize.”

“But also be aware that there are many who must still guard our speech, be selective about with whom we share the truth of our lives, be careful about where and with whom we are seen. And even when we’re in a space that should be safe, we still are not safe.”

“For many members of the LGBT community the bar and/or club are places of both refuge and sanctuary. When we go there we are on holy ground.”

“In the coming days as the world seeks to shape a narrative of what occurred in Orlando, FL, let us be clear that this is an issue of unbridled homophobia and heterosexism wrapped up and codified in an ethic that does foster love.”

“We dodge conversations on the discrimination that happens to our friends of color, the catcalls and assaults and violence in homes that happens to our sisters, the ways that Muslims feel threatened just by living in this country. We can point our fingers at everyone else that doesn’t look anything like us. It’s their fault… It has to be… I’m just sitting on my cozy corner minding my own business.”

“But when the hateful rhetoric in our country is getting louder and louder and more people are dying and being abused because of their color, religion, sexual orientation, gender/gender identity/gender expression, then we as people of faith need to stop sitting in our cozy corners and get ourselves out into the world.”

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New Sacred is where progressive religion and progressive culture collide. We feature writers from popular sites such as Huffington Post Religion, Religion Dispatches, and For Harriet, as they tackle the taboos of church culture, trending topics, and personal triumphs and tragedies.

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New Sacred aims to share diverse opinions about faith, culture, and the human experience. We encourage engaged comments and conversation on our blog. However; we will not tolerate emotionally or physically violent speech. We maintain the right to delete any comments we deem to fit within those categories.